Sheldean: 'We never lost hope'
06/03/2007 18:02  - (SA)  

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Andrew Jordaan, the man who originally was charged with kidnapping Sheldean Human. (Beeld)

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Pretoria - It never crossed the minds of Sheldean Human's family that she might be dead, said her cousin, Anna Botha, on Tuesday.

The girl went missing on February 18 near her Pretoria Gardens home.

After a two-week search by police from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units, the hi-tech unit, Tshwane metro police and the Hercules police station, Sheldean's body was found in a small river in Pretoria West on Monday night.

Botha said the family was still in a state of shock.

"We didn't expect her to die. We have been so positive throughout, and we thought she was alive and that we were going to find her.

"It never crossed our minds that she might be dead," she said.

Police still have her body

Botha said Sheldean's mother, Elize, was "struggling" to come to grips with the death of her daughter.

"Sheldean was all she had,".

"Her body hasn't been released to the family, so we cant make any plans just yet," said Botha said on Tuesday.

Andrew Jordaan, the man charged with kidnapping Sheldean, pointed out to police where the girl's body was hidden.

Jordaan, who will appear in court on Friday, now faces a charge of murder, along with kidnapping.

Botha said the family wanted to thank the community and the police for their relentless hard work.

"It was a blessing to have had all the help we had. We didn't think people still cared about each other," she said, adding that the support they had received was awe-inspiring.

Candle-lit vigil

Community members Joe Bhamjee and Sonny Matthews said they would help the family with any food they needed for the funeral.

"We thought it would be a good gesture," they said.

Sheldean's home was adorned with bouquets of flowers and cards of synmpathy.

"Sheldean ons gaan jou verseker mis" (Sheldean we shall surely miss you) read one card.

A candle-lit vigil will be held for Sheldean on Thursday at the corner of Bremer and Market streets, at the park where she went missing.

Funeral arrangements for Sheldean would be discussed on Tuesday night, said a family member.

Her friends 'angry and sad'

Meanwhile, Beeld's Christel Raubenheimer reports that the children of Grade One at Tuinrand Primary School spoke bravely about their friend Sheldean, although their faces were tear-stained.

Trauma counsellors arrived at the school in Pretoria Gardens early on Tuesday, to help the children deal with Sheldean's death.

Superintendent Chrisna Gerber, who is with the police social services division, said: "The good things you remember about her are the most important. It's all right to feel sad and angry. You're allowed to be angry."

One of the boys in the counselling group became so carried away that he wanted "to throw a bottle at that man's head".

Gerber explained to the little ones: "We're allowed to be angry, but we're not allowed to stay angry forever. Grownups call that being bitter.

"We can cry, but some time or other the sun that shine's out of your eyes must return. Then we must go on."